Falling Hard

The Untamed Four #1

by Samara Jones

Here is the thing about best they are not supposed to get engaged. Especially not when you have spent years swearing you are totally, absolutely, one hundred percent not in love with them.

Olivia Fox is fine. She is more than fine. She is the confident, competent heiress to a fashion empire with a job she loves and girlfriends who moonlight as her therapists, investigators, and occasional partners in crime. She is not, I repeat not, spiraling just because Luke Forrester, her ride-or-die since childhood, suddenly decided to propose to someone who is… not her.
Except maybe she is spiraling. Just a little. Because Luke wants her to be his best man. Which basically means standing by while he marries the wrong woman. And Olivia? She is not built for that.
So now she is juggling two impossible processing the feelings she has buried for years, and plotting the kind of wedding sabotage that would make one friend proud while sending the other two into panic mode. All while smiling sweetly and pretending she is supportive.
Totally doable. Right?
The countdown to “I do” is on, and Olivia is about to discover that falling in love with your best friend is messy, inconvenient, and possibly the funniest disaster of her life.

Publisher’s Falling Hard is built on miscommunication. If you get frustrated when characters don’t speak plainly, this story may test your patience. But if you love the aching tension of two people who can’t quite say what’s in their hearts until it matters most, this book was written for you.

138 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 28, 2025

About the author

Samara Jones is an author who spent a sizeable chunk of her life dreaming of the perfect man, job, and surroundings. She lives in New York and loves the journey of creating a story from start to finish. She owns a sizable collection of plants and loves to watch every subtitled romance drama from all corners of the world.

When she is not creating, watching or reading fiction. Samara hides in the real world amongst the tiniest and most gentle humans.

Reviews

[LizNReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Samara Jones for this eARC in exchange of my honest review.

This is an easy, quick novella which starts & ends with a sex scene, yet the spice is minimal (imo), and focuses a lot on the miscommunication going on between Olivia and Luke.

Olivia & Luke are two kids who grew up together since early on because their moms were best friends who reconnected after having kids. One day Luke just randomly texts his best friend, Olivia, telling him he got engaged. Only then, does Olivia realize that Luke was the one she loved and wanted to spend the rest of her life with. With these news, Olivia decides she will go to extremes to get her way, but still chooses to do way more than necessary vs just telling Luke how she truly feels. As it turns out, Olivia once before told Luke how she felt, but she was drunk and Luke didn’t take her seriously, so she brushed it off saying she obviously didn’t mean it. After truth comes to light, they make it Facebook official and everyone around them is truly happy for them and cheer them on.

While this is not your typical trope and not something many will appreciate in a book, this is more often than not, life for many. Due to our miscommunication and fear of not wanting to ruin a good friendship, we often decide to keep to the truth to ourselves, even if it hurts. So though not your typical romance novel, this is still a novella with a happy ending.

[Rozzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy romcoms and this book is perfect fodder for a romcom. Yes, it reminded me of My Best Friend’s Wedding and did channel that, but the hero and heroine end up together, which my romantic heart did like. This book is big on the miscommunication trope and even warns readers that if you don’t like it to stay away from reading it. Now this trope isn’t one of my favorites because I end up either hating the characters at the end of it or yelling at their stupidity, but I figured the cover was beautiful, and I had I the warning, so I knew what I was getting into. Olivia, the woman whore was just ungrateful and I really hated her. I couldn’t stand the way she treated Luke and kept hoping he would end up with someone else. The only thing that kept me reading was Olivia’s friends and, of course, Luke. In fact, I kind of felt sorry for him and was hoping he would stay with Solenne because she treated him very well. It is a good short read and, over all over not a badly written story.

[Tiffany Velasquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short novella is my kind of reading and this one did not disappoint. I kinda feel this Samantha girl is a spoiled brat working for her dad, having a housekeeper and secretly in love with Luke. But she’s so jealous of his engagement and won’t admit to it. And everyone wants her to admit to loving him but since he’s engaged she won’t until it really affects her. I didn’t expect the novella to have a twist that it did but it did. I thought it was funny that Samantha had all these different names for the fiancé. He went through so much to see if she felt the same way. You are going to want to read this book! It is out November 1st!

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

By: Samara Jones Release: Nov 1st
ARC review

Antecdotal notes while reading this Novella -

Wow, page 1 gets right down to business.

Women who know their "worth and refused to be trampled on."

Olivia, stop being a Petty Betty. You have had 6 months to get her name correct.

Oh snap, Olivia....destruction, sabotage

Taylor Swift's new album talks about taking chances, taking that leap. Maybe Olivia needs to brush up on her TSwift lyrics.

Dang Luke! You got schemes. Well played sir.

[Vivien Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm always a fan of the friends to lovers trope. And this story was really good romcom. Luke and Olivia have always been there for each other, best friends since childhood. Olivia has never had romantic feelings for him, or has she? She suddenly finds herself panicking when Luke becomes engaged. She knows she can't let him go through with this, not when he's meant for her. These characters very likable and relatable. I adored Luke and the whe was with Olivia. This book had the perfect ending. I would definitely recommend it.

[Erica G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know I'm not the only one who watched my Best Friends Wedding and wished they ended up together, so this was the PERFECT read!

What a great story about a take charge girl who never realized just how in love she is with her best friend until he gets engaged! Then, the claws come out and she is ready to fit for him!

If you're looking for a quick and fun romantic comedy, this is the book for you!

[Ruby Tate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Huge shout out to Samara Jones for the opportunity to read this eARC!! (My 1st!)
No spoilers, but I really did enjoy reading the book! Pretty spicy start, although overall, the book is very mild. Loved the friendships & a twist I didn’t see coming. So good! Great novella to read; very easy to read.

[Ana Decosta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty funny and steamy slow-burn. However I was not surprised by Luke’s scheme, I predicted it quite fast. Also hard to imagine it took them so many years to open up and confess.

[Lunden Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

*ARC review*

I’m obviously not up for the misunderstanding trope, as this book made me want to scream JUST TELL HIM.

Childhood best friends Olivia and Luke have only ever been just friends, even though every else assumes otherwise. Olivia gets a surprising text one day that Luke has now proposed to a girl he’s only been with for six months and Olivia fights every nerve in her body to tell him how she feels, just trying to fake being happy for him.

Will she finally tell him the truth and bear the consequences? Or will she stand by and watch the love of her life marry someone else?